Océ helps TJ International in drive to digital

Unprecedented growth leads to European first for award-winning book manufacturer

Venlo, The Netherlands, 3 December 2009 — Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, today announced that phenomenal growth in digital book production has triggered another major technology investment by short-run pioneers TJ International. The award-winning book manufacturer from the UK is celebrating another milestone as Europe’s first confirmed site for the world’s fastest cutsheet printer, the Océ VarioPrint 6320 ‘Ultra’ system.

Creating more flexibility to cope with soaring demand

TJ International, one of the world’s prominent companies in the book printing business, has acquired the new system – part of a family of award-winning printers – to cope with rocketing demand for digital books. It will provide more flexibility for the Cornwall-based book producers. The improved quality and speed makes it viable for TJI to expand the digital capacity in any one run. Before the Océ VarioPrint® 6320 was installed, the digital unit produced anything from nine to 350.

A big leap forward for digital, the company’s biggest growth market

Angus Clark, TJI’s CEO, said: “This is another big leap forward for us and will keep us at the forefront of book manufacturing. For us, digital is the biggest growth market and we expect that it will increase from 16% to 25% of our current turnover within two or three years. Things for us will continue to be far more digital. Digital book manufacturing will continue to increase at a phenomenal rate just as litho production will go down in the years to come.” The average book run at TJIs overall is now around 1200 to 1300, which is down from 1600 to 1700 in the 1990s. “Everybody can see that print runs are going down overall.” said Clark. “As digital develops we see the crossover point getting closer and we will have to question whether we need to be in litho at all. However, if I didn’t print litho, digital quality – which is improving all the time – would have to be even better.”

Unique printing technology is best and offers more environmental benefits

He added: “Océ offers better digital technology and more environmental benefits than any of its competitors. Its unique printing technology is extremely environmentally friendly and means the printer uses less power, fewer consumables and makes less noise, without compromising on quality. We are delighted, as will our customers be with the results!”

A big swing in the market with publishers now printing for distribution

Jan Verschaeren, Océ’s Executive Vice-President, Document Printing, said: “The introduction of the Océ VarioPrint 6320 printing system has taken the market by storm. Since launching this duplex technology little more than three years ago, there has been nothing comparable and it is being used for all kinds of applications – from banks and other financial institutions, to commercial printers and, of course book printers such as TJ International, a long-standing Océ customer.

“Across Europe and further afield we are witnessing a big swing in the market with established publishers printing for distribution, not printing for warehouses. That is why there is so much growth in the digital book market. The pressure that all printers are under from customers is to find ways of publishing for the whole life cycle of a book. This means from the point of getting a finished file of a book that might never go out of existence because you never know when one copy might be needed again in the future.”

Proven history of innovation in digital book production across Europe

TJ International, which has a proven history of innovation in digital book production across Europe, was the first UK book printer to install an Océ DemandStream press in 1999. Five years later, TJI was the first UK book printer to install the Oce VarioStream 9210 and in November 2006 it became the first company in the UK to install the Océ VarioPrint 6250.

About TJ International

Standard Life is a major asset managing company headquartered in Edinburgh and operating across the globe. Established in 1825, Standard Life provides life assurance and pensions, investment management, banking and healthcare insurance products to over 6.5 million customers worldwide.  The Group has around 10,000 employees across the UK, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Austria, India, USA, Hong Kong and mainland China.
Standard Life’s diverse business includes one of the largest life and pensions businesses in the UK with more than 4 million customers; Standard Life Bank, which currently has over £9.7bn worth of mortgages under management; Standard Life Investments, which currently manages assets of over £123bn globally and Standard Life Healthcare, a private medical insurance company which is one of the largest in the UK.

About Océ

Océ is one of the world's leading providers of document management and printing for professionals. The broad Océ offering includes office printing and copying systems, high speed digital production printers and wide format printing systems for both technical documentation and color display graphics. Océ is also a foremost supplier of document management outsourcing. Many of the world’s Fortune 500 companies and leading commercial printers are Océ customers. The company was founded in 1877. With headquarters in Venlo, the Netherlands, Océ is active in around 100 countries and employs some 22,000 people worldwide. Total revenues in 2008 amounted to € 2.9 billion. Océ is listed on Euronext in Amsterdam. For more information on Océ, visit www.oce.com.

For more information, please contact:
Nick Gale
Manager Media Relations
Tel. +31 77 359 5628
E-mail nick.gale@oce.com